DeathCipris:CujoQuarrel: Is there anyone who would allow this monstrosity into their homes?

People that A) know no better. B) don't care (the kind of people that have a public facebook/twitter profile). C) think it's neat (see brain-damaged). D) were upsold by Verizon for some bullshiat new "feature" that they have to "upgrade" for.

E) have no other option because it ends up being put on everything, like DRM, which will prompt a huge spike in cable theft from people who still want the product but not the "added features".

Capitalism nowadays is not about making money by selling people what they want to buy, but making money by forcing people to buy what you want to sell (and then suing them for trying to get what they actually want).

Fast Moon:DeathCipris: CujoQuarrel: Is there anyone who would allow this monstrosity into their homes?

People that A) know no better. B) don't care (the kind of people that have a public facebook/twitter profile). C) think it's neat (see brain-damaged). D) were upsold by Verizon for some bullshiat new "feature" that they have to "upgrade" for.

E) have no other option because it ends up being put on everything, like DRM, which will prompt a huge spike in cable theft from people who still want the product but not the "added features".

Capitalism nowadays is not about making money by selling people what they want to buy, but making money by forcing people to buy what you want to sell (and then suing them for trying to get what they actually want).

Here, here to that! I am working on getting a better video on demand setup in my home. I hate all of the advertising on TV and would much rather have the far better quality DVD/BlueRay boxset of whatever show it is that I am watching.

A bit off topic here, but can anyone recommend any good video streaming software? I already have a server in place and am currently using TVersity, but their streaming support for PS3 is weak at best. Half the damn codecs don't load properly and I get a fail to launch on the video. I used to use ORB, but that software got WAY too resource intense, so much so it almost needs its own system.

1) don't go with Verizon. I am happy to say that I have never been a Verizon customer. Not cellphone, not cable or internet.

2) Don't get cable television. I don't think this is going to be installed in their mandatory cable modem to put pop-ups on your computer.

3) If you must get cable television, it's a simple microphone, find a way to block the mic, put a Furby next to it, or in an extreme case, open it up and cut one of the mic wires. Now, this last one works best if you have a friend who can get you a roll of those warranty stickers so that when you open the case you can put another factory sticker on the bottom and not get into trouble with Verizon and pay extra money for opening up the box and damaging it.

JackieRabbit:Do people still use DVRs? Seems rather last decade to me, since any content can be be streamed Netflix, Amazon, iTunes and a several other places.

Just so you know, even though we live this wonderful age of technology, about 1/3 of the US still doesn't have access to unlimited high speed broadband. I use a mobile broadband card, and my cap is 5GB a month, so no streaming for me. Of course, I am lucky enough to live just close enough to a cell phone tower so that is an option. If I lived about a mile down the road, I would be screwed.

Burr:JackieRabbit: Do people still use DVRs? Seems rather last decade to me, since any content can be be streamed Netflix, Amazon, iTunes and a several other places.

Just so you know, even though we live this wonderful age of technology, about 1/3 of the US still doesn't have access to unlimited high speed broadband. I use a mobile broadband card, and my cap is 5GB a month, so no streaming for me. Of course, I am lucky enough to live just close enough to a cell phone tower so that is an option. If I lived about a mile down the road, I would be screwed.

It is probably more than 1/3 that applies here, since "high speed" is considered to be 5 Mb for government purposes. I can only get 5Mbit at my house in the country, and it lags to even slower during peak hours. That "high speed" is not really high enough for reliable streaming.I'm lucky to get even that, no cable out here, only DSL. There are going to be quite a few households that are unable to stream video for quite some time to come, so yeah.

dervish16108:DeathCipris: CujoQuarrel: Is there anyone who would allow this monstrosity into their homes?

People that A) know no better. B) don't care (the kind of people that have a public facebook/twitter profile). C) think it's neat (see brain-damaged). D) were upsold by Verizon for some bullshiat new "feature" that they have to "upgrade" for.

I wonder if those people who were in favor of the Patriot Act ("I've got nothing to hide, and you shouldn't either, citizen!") would be in favor of this too.

no matter how far gov't or private sector takes the Big Brother the bulk of the worker bees will continue to scoff at the thought that it was not some ugly turban wearing cave dwelling boogie man that was responsible for 9-11. people are idiots.

A Terrible Human:KarmicDisaster: It is probably more than 1/3 that applies here, since "high speed" is considered to be 5 Mb for government purposes. I can only get 5Mbit at my house in the country, and it lags to even slower during peak hours. That "high speed" is not really high enough for reliable streaming.I'm lucky to get even that, no cable out here, only DSL. There are going to be quite a few households that are unable to stream video for quite some time to come, so yeah.

What the hell. I live in a small rural town in southeast Ky and I have cable dsl,my average download speed is 23mbs and it's cheap.

Funny thing is, a guy about a mile away does have cable. They strung the line for about a mile through the trees to get to his house, no poles. Not sure if he did that himself or what or how long it will last like that. Anyway, the cable company does not feel like putting in poles or burying a cable for miles just to pick up a couple people that might not even subscribe. There is a lot of space in parts of the country. There was WIMAX but the tower caught fire and they aren't replacing it plus I would need a tower with a gain antenna to pick it up.

And I thought my grandmother was a bit off when she started covering the TV so no one from the TV could see her. Now I'll be doing the same...oh wait... that's right, I turned off cable a year ago and my last TV purchase was in 1996.

/course now all my computers and phones have cameras and mics already built in, no set top box needed.

A Terrible Human:KarmicDisaster: It is probably more than 1/3 that applies here, since "high speed" is considered to be 5 Mb for government purposes. I can only get 5Mbit at my house in the country, and it lags to even slower during peak hours. That "high speed" is not really high enough for reliable streaming.I'm lucky to get even that, no cable out here, only DSL. There are going to be quite a few households that are unable to stream video for quite some time to come, so yeah.

What the hell. I live in a small rural town in southeast Ky and I have cable dsl,my average download speed is 23mbs and it's cheap.

Some places are getting better, but it is taking some time. I know most small towns are starting to get better service, but still according to 2010 Census data about 20% of the US population lives in a rural area. And note, rural means "not in a city/town" , not "not in a city like New York". Add that 20% to those towns that haven't got the high speed yet, and I can see how it couple be close to 1/4 of the US (which I feel is more accurate then 1/3, those are just numbers I see on the internet, and I think those are a few years old).

Hell, my commute goes through about 30-40 miles of AT&T dead zone, and that dead zone includes two county seats of about 10,000 people each.

KarmicDisaster:There was WIMAX but the tower caught fire and they aren't replacing it plus I would need a tower with a gain antenna to pick it up.

Do you have any suggestions on how I can increase my cell reception? Some days it is fine, others I can't get a signal. I have been looking into getting an antenna hardwired with one of those "access points" (so, the antenna is outside, the access point is on my ceiling) but I still get the same signal on my roof as I do in the house it seems, so that won't work.

Jim.Casy:Some of my more paranoid friends said that my Kinect was probably doing this already. I was worried about it for a minute, but then I thought to myself "All this thing is going to learn by watching me is that I'm a lazy stoner who plays a lot of video games," which any normal person would figure out after talking to me for 5 minutes anyway.